


Drinking Buddies

by bloodpopsicles



Category: Preacher (TV)
Genre: (tequila and blood), F/M, late night drinking, some really gross description of burned up Cass, these crazy kids are ride or die for each orher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 14:32:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7536511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodpopsicles/pseuds/bloodpopsicles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Cass recovers in her guest room from his self-immolation incident, Tulip offers him some company. Takes place after "El Valero"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drinking Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> I just love writing these characters. I love Cass and Tulip's relationship and I'm dying for more of their dynamic on the show, so this is me attempting to flesh them out a little by having a late night real talk.

She hadn't seen him in a while, but she expected he still didn't look good. Nah, Tulip thought, that might be the understatement of the century. Even after Brewski had come and gone (RIP), Cassidy may have only just begun to resemble something human, let alone his old self. And his old self was pretty frightening to begin with, even with skin.

It was 2:06 in the dead of night, goin' by the chicken shaped clock hanging over the stove in her uncle's kitchen. Tulip had tossed and turned for hours in her mother's old bedroom, never catching a wink. She just couldn't seem to forget about that goddamn Irishman who had barged into her life, all blood and affection, shacked up in her spare bedroom. She couldn't seem to shake him, and she was startin' to wonder if she really wanted to.

So she rolled outta bed, wearing nothin' but her panties and an oversized Annville Savages jersey, and headed to the liquor cabinet.

Tulip grabbed two shot glasses--one from the strip club down on highway 64 sporting a faded pair 'a tits, and another shaped like a cactus. A bottle of tequila for her, and, reaching into the fridge, a stolen blood bag from county general for the asshole.

She tip toed down the hallway towards the door--his door. Dim light leaked out from the crack under the door, and shadows moved left to right and back again. Pacing. Tulip raised a slightly shaking fist, but before she could knock she heard--

"Do you really think that's a good idea, love?"

Of course he had heard her coming. It didn't sound like him, not the always-tipsy, 10,000 cigarette-rasp with a swinging inflection and genuine kindness she knew. This was deeper, lower, like asphalt and sandpaper. Like the scrapin' of metal against concrete. It almost hurt to hear. But not as much as it hurt him to say it, she was sure.

"I ain't never been one for good ideas." Tulip closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened the door.

Cassidy stood in the far corner of the room, arms folded, looking up at her from under a heavy brow. Tulip suppressed a gasp best she could. Where there was skin--mostly in patches on his stomach and chest--it was shiny and pink, like scar tissue. But where there wasn't, in some places you could see right down to the bone. Charred black covered huge areas of his torso and arms, flaking off at the edges. And maybe the worst part: one side of his face was burnt clean off, leaving only muscle and teeth. But the other side, even through the ashy blood still stubbornly running, still cracked the smallest of smiles when he saw her. 

"Peace offerin'," she said while dangling the dollar store tequila and type O negative. 

He didn't move from the corner. "Yeh ain't scared, aye?"

Tulip rolled her eyes. "Of you? Takes a lot to scare me, and buddy you ain't cuttin' it," she lied.

"Yeh should be," he retorted. It wasn't a joke, and it wasn't a threat. Just a fact.

Tulip began to stammer out an answer but Cass cut her off.

"Can't trust meself. Instincts kick in." He sounded tired. Resigned. But he hadn't taken his eyes off her since she'd opened the door.

Tulip nodded. "Thought as much. Which is why I brought my insurance policy." She sat the blood and booze on the floor, hiked up her shirt and pulled a snub nosed revolver from her underwear.

Cass raised his eyebrows (with a noticeable wince.) "Now while that's one of the sexiest things I've seen in my long painful life, we both know that won't stop me."

"But it'll slow ya down."

Cass nodded slightly, and sighed. "Right, throw over the blood, but stay over there. For both of our sakes." 

Tulip tossed the bag, which Cass caught lightning quick out of the air and immediately devoured. He ripped into the plastic with his teeth, spraying red everywhere. Sliding down the wall, Cass landed hard on his ass. He growled and snarled, like a feral dog with a chicken in its teeth. Within seconds, the bag was sucked dry, and the only remnants were smeared across his hollow face and dribbled down his chest and stomach.

Cass attempted to relax, with visible effort, closing his eyes and trying to regulate his ragged breathing. 

Tulip poured herself a shot, her eyes still trained on the vampire in the corner. "So it's kinda like sex, huh," she said before knocking one back.

Cass wiped his mouth, and only seemed to hear her a moment later. "What?" he asked, sounding distant still.

"Sex," she answered, like it was obvious. "It's all grrr, and animalistic, and you're feelin' best you ever felt. Then it's over, like an orgasm, panting and exhausted. Shit, I could use a cigarette after watchin' that," she chuckled before downing her second shot.

Chuckling softly in spite of himself, Cass shook his head. "Never thought about it like that."

Tulip smiled. "Well I seen you have sex and you got about the same amount of restraint."

That made him laugh, even though it was immediately followed by a groan of pain. 

"...I'm sorry," Tulip offered. 

"Ah, I'm alright. But I'd be better if yeh shared some'a that lighter fluid yer teasing me with over there."

Tulip smiled, tossed the cactus shot glass, and rolled the bottle across the wooden floor. The gun still lay in front of her, within reach.

Unscrewing the bottle with effort, Cass shook his head and grinned. "It's more embarrassing than sex."

"Yeah? How?" 

"Well first of all, every bleedin' body has sex. Unless yer some sorta repressed fucker who keeps his dick in a mason jar above the fireplace. Not everyone has tah strategically murder tah survive, lest they become some sorta half mad starved monster." His smile faded and his eyes went unfocused.

He poured a shot to the rim and downed it unceremoniously. Tulip could see his esophagus move as he swallowed. With a violent cough, Cass groaned "Fuck! Take note now dearest, alcohol and fried vocal chords do not a happy combination make."

Tulip answered in a mumble. "Shouldn't be embarrassed on my account. I seen plenty 'a fucked up shit in my--"

"Yeh don't know Tulip," he said, adamant, any hint of levity gone. "I love yeh, but don't pretend yeh know." Cass barked out a humorless laugh. "Yeh ever had any hint of yer humanity erased, till yer just a collection 'o impulses? No feelin', no consciousness, nuthin'. Just a body, and the real you just got tah sit back and watch while yeh rip into somethin' living?"

He took another swig off the bottle. Tulip could almost hear it burn his throat raw.

"So do yeh really blame me? Not wantin' the woman I love tah see me no more than an animal? Let me 'ave me shame, Tulip. Without shame I'm just a wolf with a decent smile."

Tulip was silent for a long while, staring down at the gun between her criss-crossed legs. Saw her tiny, warped, silver reflection in the curve of the chamber. After what felt like forever, she felt something tap against her foot. The tequila bottle. She looked up and Cass was looking at her, all the sharp angle hunger gone from his eyes. 

Tulip cleared her throat. "Ya know, it's always just been me 'n Jesse. Ever since we was kids. That boy is my everything, beginnin', middle, and god knows someday he'll be the end of me. But when you only ever had one person, one person to take care of ya, love ya, share everything with... Gets where ya can't see anybody else. You're blind to anybody who ain't them." Tulip sighed, and smiled sadly. "Then you show up, and suddenly I cain't tell my ass from a hole in the ground. Tellin' me ya love me, that you'll do anything for me, and in spite 'a everything I believe ya!" Tulip trailed off, finally looking up at Cass. "Me 'n Jesse, we're soulmates, and that's just a fact. But, uh... You're my best friend, Cass. Best friend I ever had. Wolf or not."

If Cass had any skin left on his face, he would have blushed. "Eh, yer just sayin' that cause I look so pretty t'night."

Tulip laughed, and surprised herself by wiping her eyes. "Yeah, ya got me."

After a moment, Tulip nodded, stood, grabbed the tequila, and walked toward Cass. 

"Whoa whoa whoa, now--" Cass protested, hands up and tensing as she approached. His eyes darted to the gun she had left by the door.

Tulip said nothing as she sat next to Cass and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. She felt his muscles relax beneath her in increments, until he lowered his head to rest atop hers. 

They passed the bottle.


End file.
